Culinaire, being billed as Victoria’s premier food-tasting experience, is the brainchild of local food connoisseur Scott Gurney. The event came about when Gurney was looking to branch out and find more local restaurants to eat at.
“Victoria has such an eclectic variety of restaurants; most locals barely scratch the surface of what’s available to us,” says Gurney.
Once Gurney’s vision was defined he hit the pavement with sales pitches ready to wrangle up local food and beverage businesses.
“Being a part of the industry helped me gather local restaurants, breweries, and wineries who are involved, and each year more guests are joining up,” he says.
At Culinaire, local restaurants provide samples of their classics as well as concoctions they create specially for the event.
“We’re doing pork-stuffed apple fritters just for Culinaire,” says Jeff Heatherington, owner of PIG BBQ Joint.
Heatherington has been in the industry for 14 years. He was mainly involved in fine dining until he starting up Pig five years ago.
“I decided to take the same principles I had with fine dining and apply it to southern BBQ,” says Heatherington, adding that Victoria’s restaurant industry is unique with a plethora of high-quality restaurants with affordable prices.
Even though Culinaire is food-focused, a large variety of local breweries and wineries will be involved with the event as well.
Neil Cooke-Dallin of Salt Spring Island Ales says west coast Canadian beer is constantly heading in a positive direction.
“We now use all locally grown and 100-percent organic ingredients in our beer,” explains Cooke-Dallin. “We are also working with local herbalists so we can recreate ancient blends of brew.”
Each admission at Culinaire includes 10 tastings, with additional tastings available for $1 each so guests can have a chance to try a wide variety of pairings.
“Every year there is a great variety of foods available from different cultures and with different influences,” says Gurney. “My hope is for guests to have the ultimate tasting experience while being introduced to local industry talent and finding new favourite restaurants in the process.”
Culinaire
Thursday, March 22 at 5 pm and 7:30 pm
Crystal Garden, Victoria Conference Centre
culinairevictoria.com